Tag: editing and effects

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Movement.

On By dalecooper57In editing and effects, photography13 Comments

Good morning, all you lovely people, did you have a good weekend? It’s another Monday and that means The Cosmic Photo Challenge is here to kickstart your week with the prompt; Movement. 

As I said on Friday, I had no idea where I was going with that, it just popped into my head as I was writing the post, but then I came up with a fun way to spend Saturday afternoon.

I decided to try and replicate the old trick of moving from one place to another during the taking of a panoramic photo, but attempting this on my own turned out to be more difficult than I’d first anticipated.

For anybody who isn’t familiar with this vintage photography illusion, the trick is fairly simple; in old school photos (by which I mean old photos taken of school children), groups were often so large that the photographer had to pan from one end to the other, opening and closing the shutter at regular points along the way, to build up one long image.

Now, if you were on the far left hand end of the back row, for example, once the camera had moved sufficiently to the right and you were no longer visible, you could run round behind the assembled students and magically appear at the far right hand end of the same row when the camera completed its pan.

I’ve managed to do something similar before when photographing other people, because they can walk round behind the camera and be pictured more than once in the same shot, but how to do it on my own?

After a few abortive attempts I came up with this brilliant invention, made from a roll of paper towel, a selfie stick, a lemon squeezer and a length of cotton

Behold, the DIY Panoramic Photo Controller

I then spent a very entertaining couple of hours crawling around on the floor, clambering over furniture, holding silly poses and changing clothes, to bring you this collection of trios. I have also included some interesting outtakes and initial experiments, because they’re amusing to me. You may need to do some zooming to fully appreciate the details.  ;~}

What got you moving at the weekend..?

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Shooting through.

On By dalecooper57In arts, editing and effects, photography9 Comments

Good morning, all you lovely people, I hope you enjoyed the weekend, whatever you chose to do with it. Hopefully your plans included space for The Cosmic Photo Challenge and this week’s theme; Shooting through.

To recap the needlessly cryptic prompt, it simply refers to taking your photos through something; windows, doors, pipes, under bridges, tunnels, holes in, well, anything I suppose.

You get the idea.

But I didn’t do any of those things.

Well, I kind of did, then I had another idea and decided to use both.

Anyway, my original photos were shot through tunnels of trees, gaps in hedgerows, between fence panels, my front and back door, I even tried one through a metal egg ring.

And my other idea had been to use photos of windows and doors as frames for unusual views of something you wouldn’t have expected to see, so it seemed obvious to me that I should combine the two.

You honestly would not believe how long it took to edit all the small details. No AI or Photoshop here, all done with overlays and fingertip erasing of backgrounds on my phone. I have included copies of the original views for reference.  ;~}

It’s amazing how the human eye and brain can detect tiny inconsistencies in edited images, which then spoils the entire illusion. So I include often difficult to achieve, yet almost unnoticeable details (just the plants and leaves overlapping the door and window frames in the first two took about half an hour each), because it tricks the eye into blending the two images together in your head.

What apertures did you capture your contributions through this week..?

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: The art of houseplants.

On By dalecooper57In editing and effects, photography14 Comments

Hi there, welcome to your Monday morning dose of photographic fantasmagoria, The Cosmic Photo Challenge.

This week we’re getting creative with our indoor greenery, with the prompt; The art of houseplants.

I try to take good care of my growing collection of housebound horticulture, so it’s nice to showcase the plants in their very own photoshoot. I also made a few artistic edits.

I love the way this one sheds excess water with its crying leaves

Now it’s time to share some shots of your indoor vegetation…

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Distortion.

On By dalecooper57In arts, editing and effects, photography12 Comments

Good morning, welcome to a new week and a new Cosmic Photo Challenge to start your Monday with a bang, or at least a snap.

This week’s challenge is all about; Distortion.

As I cheekily suggested in Friday’s prompt, this could be a chance to play with editing features you maybe hadn’t experimented with before. But any images of distorted objects, shots taken through an obscuring surface, etc. however you wish to interpret the theme is, as always, up to you.

I used an app called Glitch Lab to produce my pictures, the originals of which I have also included for reference.

Now let’s see what sort of twist you gave the prompt this week…

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Symmetry.

On By dalecooper57In arts, editing and effects, photography20 Comments

Hi there, it’s time for The Cosmic Photo Challenge to start your week, with today’s theme being; Symmetry.

I used the natural forms of ferns and trees to create my symmetrical artworks, their fronds and branches making wonderfully intricate patterns when multiplied.

Now let’s see if you were in a reflective mood at the weekend…

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Pick a shape.

On By dalecooper57In arts, editing and effects, photography11 Comments

Hi there, I hope you had a good weekend, now there’s just the small matter of The Cosmic Photo Challenge to attend to, before you plunge headlong into another Monday.

This week your mission was to; Pick a shape.

Any shape will do, as long as it somehow informs your choice of pictures, whether that’s by subject matter or design.

I decided to go with circles, using two separate layouts to create my images; a random selection of circular household objects for one; and some records from my collection, chosen for their colourful vinyl (and a small rug), for the other.

Now let’s see what geometric journey you went on this week…

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Art for art’s sake.

On By dalecooper57In editing and effects, photography18 Comments

Well, hello there, how the devil are you all this fine autumn morning? Welcome to another splendiferous edition of The Cosmic Photo Challenge, which today concentrates its creative focus on images that are; Art for art’s sake.

You probably won’t be all that surprised to learn that I stuck with my chosen oeuvre and constructed some photo collages to meet this week’s brief.

I had two initial ideas; firstly to use a shot of the tubular steel rings in my interesting perspective post as concentric frames for three separate images; secondly to try and give the impression of the sea rushing out of an open doorway.

The first concept wasn’t a problem and I was very pleased with how that one came out. It contains 11 individual photos, all painstakingly placed, erased and blended by hand. However, I couldn’t find a suitable shot of a doorway for the second one and, due to my impatience and tendency to get sidetracked, I chose a photo of the pannier market to flood, instead. I believe that one is made from 9 carefully layered components. (Each composition took roughly two hours to complete)

Then on Saturday night, while looking for something completely unconnected, I stumbled upon a perfect candidate for my doorway idea, so I produced a third, bonus collage, which could even be the best of the lot, see what you think.

I think my favourite part of this one is the swan in the clouds
Those stalactites on the ceiling are actually only three inches long
A second appearance by Death (he’s also a stall holder in the market, above), along with my favourite ever bird photo

Where did your artistic muse lead you over the weekend..?

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Halloween.

On By dalecooper57In editing and effects, photography9 Comments

Hello and welcome to The Cosmic Photo Challenge, where this week we’re picturing all things; Halloween.

I have to admit I only chose the theme because I know a lot of people around the world celebrate the occasion, so I was relying on the efforts of my neighborhood to provide me with suitable subject matter.

However, when I went out searching for inspiration, not one house in the area had any decorations up, leaving me at a bit of a loss what to do.

So I created a couple of strange Halloween composite selfies, instead. (The “masks” are in fact the giant skull decoration and trick or treat bucket, below)

All Death’d up and nowhere to go
The Spirit Of Halloween is sad nobody is making an effort

Did you have more success finding some spooky images..?

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Art for art’s sake.

On By dalecooper57In editing and effects, photography12 Comments

Good morning, welcome to The Cosmic Photo Challenge, which this week is getting all artistic, with the prompt; Art for art’s sake.

I have once again gone for a collage piece, throwing an impromptu festival in my garden at the weekend.

Behold; “CosPhoChalstock”

What inspired creations do you have to share with us..?

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Pick a colour.

On By dalecooper57In editing and effects, photography10 Comments

Hi there, it’s Monday again, so let’s dive straight in with The Cosmic Photo Challenge, which this week is based around the prompt; Pick a colour.

All your images this week should feature one colour of your choosing and I chose blue.

I decided to showcase my chosen colour to the exclusion of all others.

What colourful offerings do you have for us today..?

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.